And so is the iFixit teardown in all its goodness, the cool cats over there having discovered some nifty components inside Apple’s new tablet.

Immediately after Apple’s release of the iPad 2 on Friday, iFixit began a teardown of Apple’s iPad 2, discovering a slight increase in battery capacity compared to the original iPad and confirming that the tablet has 512MB of RAM.

The company gave the tablet a repairability score of 4 out of 10 after completing its teardown on Friday. According to the report, the touchscreen tablet contains only standard Phillips screws, while the battery is “very securely” stuck down to the rear case.

The Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2 sports a new model number: A1395, compared to a model number of A1219 for the original Wi-Fi iPad and A1337 for the original iPad 3G. iFixit confirmed via software that the tablet has 512MB of RAM.

Unlike the original iPad, which iFixit described as having “gorgeous symmetry,” the iPad 2 requires a heat gun in order to remove the front panel, as Apple has opted to glue the panel in place this time around instead of using clips.

The iPad 2′s Li-Ion Polymer battery, which is made up of three cells, is rated at 3.8 volts, 25 watt-hours, slightly more than the original iPad’s rating of 3.75 volts, 24.8 watt-hours. As with the original iPad, Apple claims “up to 10 hours” of battery life on the iPad 2.

According to the teardown, the logic board of the tablet contains the Apple 1GHz A5 Processor (APL0498), Toshiba NAND Flash, and additional chips from Apple and Texas Instruments.

“The A5 processor has manufacture dates of late January and mid-February 2011,” the report noted. “Production was clearly ramping up through the last minute.”

iFixit discovered that Apple has again tapped Broadcom for several of the iPad 2′s touch controller chips, as well as a “Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM tuner combo chip” that powers the Wi-Fi board. Also, the tablet’s new gyroscope is labeled AGD8 2103.

The report also discovered that the iPad 2 LCD component is 2.4 mm thick, while the glass panel is 62 mm thick. By comparison, the original iPad employed a 3.2 mm thick LCD and .85 mm thick glass panel.

If you’ve snagged the new iPad 2, let us know what you make of it in the comments.

Per The Independent, Apple has told sources at “several” of the UK’s major carriers have told the newspaper that Apple intends to forego near-field communications for the iPhone 5 this year. That intel is reportedly coming directly from meetings with the Cupertino brain trust, which is said to be dissatisfied with the current lack of a clear, universal NFC standard. It’s generally been Apple’s wont to omit or delay features it doesn’t feel it can implement well, and NFC looks fated to be another one on that list.

So, if you were looking for near-field communications with your iPhone 5, you might have to wait a bit longer.